JAMES
§ Endure trials patiently¤1 °1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. °2 Consider yourselves fortunate, my brothers and sisters, when you meet with every kind of trial, °3 for you know that the testing of your faith makes you steadfast. °4 Let your steadfastness become perfect with deeds, that you yourselves may be perfect and blameless, without any defect. °5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God who gives to all easily and unconditionally. °6 But ask with faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave driven and tossed on the sea by the wind. °7 Such a person should not expect anything from the Lord, since the doubter has two minds °8 and his conduct will always be insecure. °9 Let the believer who is poor boast in been uplifted, °10 and let the rich one boast in being humbled, because he will pass away like the flower of the field. °11 The sun rises and its heat dries the grass; the flower withers and its beauty vanishes. So, too, will the rich person fade away even in the midst of his pursuits. °12 Happy are those who patiently endure trials, because afterwards they will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him. °13 No one, when tempted, should say, “This temptation comes from God.” God is never tempted and he can never tempt anyone. °14 Instead, each of us is lured and enticed by our own evil desire. °15 Once this desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death. °16 Do not be deceived, my beloved. °17 Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Light, in whom there is no change or shadow of a change. °18 By his own will he gave us life through the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of offering to him among his creatures. °19 My beloved, be quick to hear but slow to speak and slow to anger, °20 for human anger does not fulfill the justice of God. °21 So get rid of any filth and reject the prevailing evil, and welcome the Word that has been planted in you and has the power to save you. °22 Be doers of the Word and not just hearers, lest you deceive yourselves. °23 The hearer who does not become a doer is like that one who looked himself at the mirror. °24 He looked and then promptly forgot what he was like. °25 But those who fix their gaze on the perfect law of freedom and hold onto it, not listening and then forgetting, but acting on it, will find blessing on their deeds. °26 Those who think they are religious but do not restrain their tongue, deceive themselves and their religion is in vain. °27 In the sight of God, our Father, pure and blameless religion lies in helping the orphans and widows in their need and keeping oneself from the world’s corruption. § Treat the rich and the poor equally¤2 °1 My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, you will not discriminate between persons. °2 Suppose a person enters the synagogue where you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a poor person enters dressed in rags. °3 If you focus your attention on the well-dressed and say, “Come and sit in the best seat,” while to the poor one you say, “Stay standing or else sit down at my feet,” °4 have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two? Have you not judged, using a double standard? °5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to inherit the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? °6 Yet you despise them! Is it not the rich who are against you and drag you to court? °7 Do they not insult the holy name of Christ by which you are called? °8 If you keep the Law of the Kingdom, according to Scripture:Love your neighbor as yourself,you do well; °9 but if you make distinctions between persons, you break the law and are condemned by the same law. °10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one aspect, is guilty of breaking it all. °11 For he who said,Do not commit adultery,also said,Do not kill.If, then, you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you have broken the Law. °12 Therefore, speak and behave like people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. °13 There will be justice without mercy for those who have not shown mercy, whereas mercy has nothing to fear of judgment. § Faith is shown in action°14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. °15 If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food °16 and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? °17 So it is for faith without deeds: it is totally dead. °18 Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith and I have good deeds; show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.” °19 Do you believe there is one God? Well enough, but do not forget that the demons also believe and tremble with fear! °20 You foolish one, do you have to be convinced that faith without deeds is useless? °21 Think of our father Abraham. Was he not justified by the act of offering his son Isaac on the altar? °22 So you see, his faith was active along with his deeds and became perfect by what he did. °23 The word of Scripture was thus fulfilled,Abraham believed in God so he was considered a righteous person and he wascalled the friend of God. °24 So you see, a person is acknowledged by works and not by faith alone. °25 Likewise, we read of Rahab, the prostitute, that she was acknowledged and saved because she welcomed the spies and showed them another way to leave. °26 So, just as the body is dead without its spirit, so faith without deeds is also dead. § Sins of the tongue¤3 °1 My brothers and sisters, don’t all be teachers! You know that, as teachers, we will be judged most strictly; °2 in fact, we make mistakes, like everybody else. A person who commits no offense in speech is perfect and capable of ruling the whole self. °3 We put a bit into the horse’s mouth to master it and, with this, we control its whole body. °4 The same is true of ships: however big they are and driven by strong winds, they are guided by a tiny rudder. °5 In the same way, the tongue is a tiny part of the body but it is capable of great things. A small flame is enough to set a huge forest on fire. °6 The tongue is a similar flame; it is in itself a whole world of evil. It infects the whole being and sets fire to our world with the very fire of hell. °7 Wild animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures of every kind are and have been ruled by the human species. °8 Nobody, however, can control the tongue; it is an untiring whip, full of deadly poison. °9 We use it to bless God, our Father, and also to curse those made in God’s likeness. °10 From the same mouth come both blessing and curse. Brothers and sisters, this should not be the case. °11 Can both fresh and salt water gush from the same source? °12 Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine give figs? Neither is the sea able to give fresh water. § True wisdom°13 If you consider yourself wise and learned, show it by your good life and let your actions, in all humility, be an example for others. °14 But if your heart is full of bitter jealousy and ambition, do not try to show off; that would be covering up the truth; °15 this kind of wisdom does not come from above but from the world and it is earthly and devilish. °16 Wherever there is jealousy and ambition, you will also find discord and all that is evil. °17 Instead, the wisdom that comes from above is pure and peace-loving. Persons with this wisdom show understanding and listen to advice; they are full of compassion and good works; they are impartial and sincere. °18 Peacemakers who sow peace reap a harvest of justice. § Wicked ambitions¤4 °1 What causes these fights and quarrels among you? Is it not your inner longings that make war within your own selves? °2 When you long for something you cannot have, you kill for it and when you do not get what you desire, you squabble and fight. The fact is, you do not have what you want because you do not pray for it. °3 You pray for something and you do not get it because you pray with the wrong motive of indulging your pleasures. °4 You adulterers! Don’t you know that making friends with the world makes you enemies of God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. °5 Surely, Scripture is not wrong when it says that our spirit tends towards excess. °6 But God has something better to give, and Scripture also says,God opposes the proud but he gives his favor to the humble.°7 Give in, then, to God; resist the devil and he will flee from you. °8 Draw close to God and he will come close to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubters. °9 Recognize your distress, be miserable and weep. Turn your laughter into tears and your joy into sadness. °10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will raise you up. °11 Brothers and sisters, do not criticize one another. Anyone who speaks against or condemns another, speaks against the Law and condemns the Law. If, however, you condemn the Law, you are no longer an observer of the Law but a judge of it. °12 There is only one lawgiver and one judge: he who has the power to save or condemn. So you, who are you to judge your neighbor? °13 Listen now, you who speak like this, “Today or tomorrow we will go off to this city and spend a year there; we will do business and make money.” °14 You have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? No more than a mist which appears for a moment and then disappears. °15 Instead of this, you should say, “God willing, we will live and do this or that.”°16 But no! You boast of your plans: this brazen pride is wicked. °17 Anyone who knows what is good and does not do it, sins. § The misfortunes of the rich¤5 °1 So, now for what concerns the rich! Cry and weep for the misfortunes that are coming upon you. °2 Your riches are rotting and your clothes eaten up by the moths. °3 Your silver and gold have rusted and their rust grows into a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire, for having piled up riches in these the last days. °4 You deceived the workers who harvested your fields but now their wages cry out to the heavens. The reapers’ complaints have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. °5 You lived in luxury and pleasure in this world and felt happy while others were murdered. °6 You have easily condemned and killed the innocent since they offered no resistance. § Look forward to the Lord’s coming°7 Be patient then, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. See how the sower waits for the precious fruits of the earth, looking forward patiently to the autumn and spring rains. °8 You also be patient and do not lose heart, because the Lord’s coming is near. °9 Beloved, do not fight among yourselves and you will not be judged.
See, the judge is already at the door. °10 Take for
yourselves, as an example of patience, the suffering of the prophets who
spoke in the Lord’s name. °11 See how those who
were patient are called blessed. You have heard of the patience of Job and
know how the Lord dealt with him in the end.For the Lord is merciful and shows compassion. °12 Above all, my beloved, do not swear either by heaven or by earth, or make a habit of swearing. Let youryesbe yes and yournobe no, lest you become liable for judgment. § The sick°13 Are any among you discouraged? They should pray. Are any of you happy? They should sing songs to God. °14 If anyone is sick, let him call on the elders of the Church. They shall pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. °15 The prayer said in faith will save the sick person; the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. °16 There will be healing if you confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. The prayer of the upright man has great power, provided he perseveres. °17 Elijah was a human being like ourselves and when he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. °18 Then he prayed again: the sky yielded rain and the earth produced its fruit. °19 Brothers, if any one of you strays far away from the
truth and another person brings him back to it, °20 be sure
of this: he who brings back a sinner from the wrong way will save his soul
from death andwin forgiveness for many
sins. The End. |